geek parenting

Essay

[Editor's Note: With creator Greg Rucka's permission, we're republishing a piece he wrote on his personal blog in its entirety. Some strong language to follow from a husband and father who's fed up. The topic of conversation? The above t-shirt design spotted at WonderCon this past weekend.]
I rarely use this to just blog. I’m going to just blog now, so you can all just ignore this if it’s not to your liking.
Warning. Contents under pressure.
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BAD IDEAS FROM SMART PEOPLE

I'm not sure whether to laugh or run away screaming. I know what I would do if I were the kids living in this house. Dinovember is the practice of one set of parents (or more) to set up elaborate scenarios each night in November involving plastic dinosaurs for their kids to find when they wake up. Apparently this is a tradition in their family now.
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Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

It all started with She-Ra. I was strolling through Target and I saw The Princess of Power on DVD. I thought my daughter might get a kick out of the '80s cartoon I grew up on. So I grabbed the story of He-Man's twin sister and introduced my daughter to a whole world of girls who save the day and fight the forces of evil.
So began my four-year-old daughter Brenna's love affair with superheroes and my education about a whole world of storylines and characters that I would soon become intimately familiar with.
We moved on to Justice League cartoons and movies, some of which seemed a little too adult for my pre-schooler. But she just wanted a show with as many girls as possible. Sure, she loved The Flash and Martian Manhunter, but she needed more Hawk Girls. Younger shows, like the Super Hero Squad, were exciting but left her a little frustrated.

Clever Girl

Brand's daughter is a big fan of Minecraft, and this year insisted on being a Creeper, the terrifying exploding menaces that spawn throughout the game.
If I had a nickel for every time I opened the door of my fort to find a Creeper standing there, I'd have -- well, I wouldn't have many nickels because I quickly learned to build a second story window from which I could see my front door and shoot any horrible monsters with bows and arrows before I left for the day.
I... just hope nobody flipped out and grabbed their 8-bit swords to do battle upon seeing her costume, that's all.
Previously in Adorable CostumesRead More

Things We Saw Today

Crochet makes everything huggable ... except for this. It's awesome, but I still don't want to touch the yarn vomit. See more horror-ific crochet work at Croshame, and make sure to visit the Etsy store. The power of yarn compels you! (via I Have Seen the Whole of the Internet)
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this exists

Get ready to feel all the feelings. Offbeat Bride brings us the story of one very nervous flower girl who just needed a particular Jedi master around to get through all the attention and stress of the ceremony. As told by their reader Ms Tara:

T, the flower girl, had spent the morning hiding under the bed. She has autism, and the prospect of an event with all those people was pretty daunting. T's aunty finally coaxed her out from under the bed with the promise of a Yoda backpack.